zatarra

The medical exam will expire first. What do you mean "If she can't travel by the expiration date"? Travel where? She just needs to get another medical exam, right? Don't tell me she needs to travel to the embassy where she had her interview

No guarantee? We just spent 2+ years getting the visa. For what reasons might they not re-issue it?

My wife got her visa a couple months ago. She was told that she gets one year when she entered the US a few weeks ago, but the visa says it expires in February 2016. We figured out that it expires on the same date as her medical exam. Will she need to renew the visa in February?

Ok, Thank you for the info. I will plan accordingly.

Yes, same here. Except I don't have several months. We're taking the interview in Tokyo.

I did everything I was supposed to do in order to transfer the case. I sent a request to have it transferred along with proof of our residence in Canada. I did this months ago. However, all my correspondence was ignored and the case never got transferred. I spent several days on the phone trying to contact everybody I could about transferring the case. I was very firm, sometimes even rude, trying to get answers. NOBODY would speak to me about the issue. NVC is useless. They act like they have no control over the situation anymore. Even the embassy offered no help. They all told me that they do not deal with these kind of issues. The only thing they would do is refer me to an email. I eventually made contact with the consulate in Montreal through email, but they informed me that it would add 6-8 months to the process to get the case transferred to Montreal. Our visas to stay Canada expire in October. We don't have time for this. At this point I threw my hands up and just decided I would need to drop $1500 on a trip to Tokyo. I'm quite convinced that's our only option.

Anyway, is that ABSOLUTELY correct? The medical exam must be in the same country as the interview?

Is it ok if the medical exam takes place in a different country than the interview? My wife and I live in Canada and would like to have her medical exam in Vancouver. The interview is in Tokyo (they screwed up and accidentally scheduled it in Tokyo)

Just want to make sure it won't be a problem when she brings her medical exam results to the interview in Tokyo.

I'm not trying to start any arguments. I'm just advising, as all of you would also probably advise, make sure you know what you're talking about before posting any info. If you don't know, then don't comment. In terms of drugs, I can see there are already some well informed people chiming in on this thread. Let's not make anybody feel like they're an addict or they have a drug problem. That is so far out of our range of judgement. Let's just try to make the OP and anybody else reading this thread be aware of what to expect when it comes to drug-use and your medical examination for immigration to the US. That's what we want to know. What drugs we may have used in the past is nobody's business.

My two cents, anyway.

I do have a question though. Will they, or do they have to do a drug test at the medical examination? Or is this up to the doctor giving the exam?

I will update you on the situation.

I still haven't gotten this sorted out. I've called several different numbers and spoken to several different people. I cannot actually speak to somebody about rescheduling the interview. They refer me to other phone numbers and emails. I have sent out several emails to various email addresses I've collected from the automated phone menus and some people I've spoken to. I keep getting automated responses from my emails that ask me to send a reply with the subject like "Follow-up response" so they will actually look at and read my email. Problem is, when responding, I can't add the subject line "Follow-up response" and I just continue getting automated response emails asking me to send a reply with the subject line "Follow up response." Thus, I am stuck in an infinite loop in which I cannot make contact with anybody who can actually help me.

I've been trying to do this for nearly a week. Just today I've been on the phone for more than 2 hours, mostly trying to avoid being disconnected by the automated phone menu and tricking it into allowing me to speak to somebody.

This is the email that I sent out:

Applicant's Name: ****
Applicant's DOB: ****
Petitioner's name: ****
Petitioner's DOB: ****
Case #: ****

To whom it may concern,

"My interview appointment has accidentally been scheduled in Tokyo, Japan. I live in *********, CANADA now and have been living there since November last year. I contacted NVC and was told to contact the US consulate/embassy where I would like to reschedule the interview and have it rescheduled. If the US consulate/embassy in Montreal can take the interview, I would like to schedule it there. My interview letter is attached to this email. Please respond to this email ASAP. I need to schedule an interview soon because my visa to stay in Canada expires Oct 4. I must have my interview before that date. If I cannot have my interview in Montreal, then I must buy a plane ticket to Tokyo ASAP. I cannot emphasize enough how inconvenient this is and I need a response quickly to make my travel arrangements. The longer I go without a response, the more difficult it becomes to make plans. If you cannot schedule the interview in Montreal before October 4, let me know IMMEDIATELY.

Thank you,
**********

The email is signed with my wife's name. Unless there's some other channel of contact, my wife is stuck with her interview in Tokyo, which I'm not even sure we can afford.

(sigh) I'll keep trying I don't know why they don't have a call waiting system....

This is crazy.....

I haven't been able to get through to NVC for a week. Last time I contacted them I had to spam their number 20+ times to get through. Now the call connects but I get "because of the large number of calls we are receiving all our customer service representatives are busy helping other customers" every time.

I got a email today with a checklist. It says even thought there is still some missing info, my wife can still go to the interview and just bring the missing info. It specifies below. They want a new I-864 and wondered why I did not file for my 2014 income tax return. I wasn't required to file for the income tax return because I didn't make enough money, and I'm living in Canada now. Do I need to file for the income tax return anyway? It says I may submit a note explaining why I didn't file.

Another problem. I've tried to submit a request to change the interview location. It's still set to be in Tokyo because my wife and I were living in Japan. However, I've already sent them an email with our proof of residence in Canada. That was quite some time ago and the interview location still hasn't been changed.

Great, thank you. I called the NVC and I was told the same; no police clearance certificate from the US is required.

ah, yes. I see. So just the electronic form of DS-260. Well, we still need all those police certificates...

Yes, she is working in Canada now. I'm looking at this page:

http://montreal.usconsulate.gov/visas/visas/immigrant-visas/appointment-checklist.html

It says I need the DS-230. It looks like I'll need police certificate from Japan, US, and maybe Canada too. That's going to be ridiculous to get a hold of. I should call them and ask about this. We'll never get this done if we have to get all those police certificates.

I'm talking about her DS-230 for her immigration to the US, not Canada. She's already in Canada and has a visa to live and work there. According to all the guides I'm reading, a DS-230 is needed and I think I was told this the last time I was on the phone with them.

My wife just moved from Japan to Canada in October. I need to submit a Police Clearance certificate with the DS-230. Does she need a police clearance certificate for Japan and Canada? Before we were living in Japan together we lived in Florida. Will she need a police clearance certificate for all these places? That would be crazy. My wife just got a FBI criminal background check so that she could get her Working Holiday Visa for Canada. To get the FBI CBC she got a police clearance certificate in Japan, but she submitted it when she applied for the FBI CBC. Could we use that FBI CBC instead of the police clearance certificate?

Ok, thanks.

I received the checklist of issues with my paperwork. There was one number I changed on the I-864. When I sign it at the end, do I put the date that the original I-864 was singed, or do I write the new date?

I'm not going to include the name in the parentheses. I don't think that's a good idea because her last name hasn't officially been changed. Thanks for the input. If anybody else has had trouble with a situation similar to this, please share.

Great. Thanks!

My wife recently got a new passport and the name on the passport is a little different than the previous one. It not has her first name, last name, and then my last name in parentheses. For example: Yumi Suzuki (Jefferson)

Suzuki is her "maiden" name (not really, I just made that up). My wife hasn't actually changed her last name to mine. But when she got a new passport in Japan she chose to have my last name in parentheses. When I fill out the paperwork, can I just use "Yumi Suzuki"? The reason I ask is because sometimes these forms are supposed to have the person's name as shown on their passport.

Ok. I got through to them. That phone system is retarded, they should really change that. A copy of my birth certificate will resolve the second issue. The issue with the income tax return was actually in regards to my I-864 and not my dad's. I know what the problem is now, so I'll get it all sorted out.

This is bullshit! The number they give on the response letter doesn't work. It's the same number on their website. It NEVER works. I've tried it a million times. It's always busy. How do you get through to them???

No, I meant for my dad to fill out the I-864a because he is providing full financial support for my wife coming to the states. I'll call to get some clarification about the problem.